I think the most noticable thing Devin Ebanks has done this year is smile after dunking over Pitt’s Jermaine Dixon in the Big East Tournament. He’d been so buttoned-down all season that a rather brief and nondescript show of emotion was actually very revealing.

Turns out there’s more of that than we know.

“He is a clown, honestly. He is always joking around. Everybody in the locker room, they come around him, you know. And he’s just a joy to be around pretty much. That’s pretty much what I can say about the team. Everybody just loves being around him. He makes everybody smile and laugh.”

Just reading the things WVU and Dayton had to say about him let you know he’s a special talent. This, though, is the stage he’s been auditioning for and a special performance is all but expected today.

Ever since Huggins decided to give Ebanks some point guard responsibilities in a loss at Louisville Jan. 31, Ebanks has averaged 13.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

“This is pretty much what I’ve been doing my whole life,” he said. “This is what I do. It’s basketball. I just try to make positive things happen.”

His story is best told not by rehashing what he’s done, but when he’s done it. Whenever a big moment has arrived, he’s shaken its hand.

“He’s lived up to the hype,” forward John Flowers said. “He feeds of the stuff people say and think about him, about how he’ll respond or how he’s not ready. He won’t be star-struck. He feeds off it.”